West Virginia Policy on Extracurriculars Immediately Challenged in State Courts

Charleston, W. Va--A new policy in West Virginia schools requiring
students involved in extracurricular activities to maintain a C average
was challenged in court less than a week after it went into effect.

The policy was approved by the West Virginia State Board of
Education last August, making the state the first to enact such a
policy. Although a number of districts nationwide have linked
grade-point averages with participation in extracurricular activities,
no other state has approved a policy like West Virginia's, according to
the Education Commission of the States.

Suits challenging the policy have been filed on behalf of students
in Kanawha and Pleasants Counties.

The most controversy so far has been generated in Kanawha County,
the state's largest school district and the site of the state capitol,
where the school board went even further and forbade students who
failed even a single class to participate in activities.

Suit to Overturn Policy

On Jan. 30, hours after schools issued first-semester grades,
lawyers for Rodney Myles, a 6-foot-11-inch senior who plays on the St.
Albans High School basketball team, filed suit to overturn the county
policy.

Mr. Myles achieved a 2.0 grade average but received a failing grade
in English.

Circuit Judge John Hey denied a request for a temporary injunction
to allow Mr. Myles to play basketball, telling his lawyers, "Education
is the only hope for our future."

"While I may sympathize with this young man's inability to play, I
commend the Kanawha County Board of Education," the judge said.

He added, "Were it basket weaving, it would be one thing, but he
failed English. We are in an English-speaking country."

The case was appealed to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals,
which agreed to hear it on March 6. However, the court denied an
injunction to permit Mr. Myles to play.

In Pleasants County, a suit has been filed on behalf of Jeffrey
Hughart, a 10th-grade wrestler who was declared ineligible because his
grade-point average fell below the state's cutoff point.

The suit, filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, challenges the
state board policy.

In that suit, Judge Patrick Casey issued a 10-day restraining order
that permitted the student to participate in a wrestling tournament.
The injunction applies only to that county.

County records show that 5,750 junior- and senior-high-school
students, more than one third of the student population in the schools,
became ineligible for extracurricular activities because of their
grades.

Among the senior high schools, the percentages of ineligible
stu-dents ranged from 28 percent to 44 percent. Among the junior high
schools, the percentages varied from 22 percent to 60 percent,
according to school officials.

State Superintendent of Schools Roy Truby said he did not object to
the court challenge but intended to enforce the policy until a judge
directed him to do otherwise.

Mr. Truby said he was unsure of the state policy's effect on other
county school systems; because the grades had been available for less
than a week, he had not had time to survey them, he said.

He noted that since the policy was approved last summer, the West
Virginia Board of Education had received several requests to postpone
or alter it but had refused to do so.

Paul Morris, president of the state board, said he still supports
the policy and noted that a recent newspaper poll in Kanawha County
found that citizens favored it by a 2-to-1 margin.

"I hope it has a positive effect in terms of improving academic
skills," he said.

'Shoot for Higher Standards'

"A lot of kids only achieve what is expected of them, so they do the
minimum to get by. If you raise your expectations, that will cause
people to shoot for higher standards."

Similar policies have been established in Philadelphia, Memphis, Los
Angeles and other California districts, and a number of districts in
Alaska, according to the ecs

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